“NEVER LET GO OF ME, OH LORD…”

It’s quite ironic that it’s much easier to speak of one’s flaws than affirming his good acts.

When there are moments that people talk behind your back accept and realize that you can be wrong and can make mistakes. This calls for humility. You’re beyond perfection but you can be perfectly gentle by honestly accepting your failures. This is grace in defeat and being true to yourself. Do not be disheartened but keep moving forward and never be affected by their jeers and criticisms. Respect their disrespect. It’s their option not yours. Believe that God is your shield for He knows you better than what others speak about you. You are never denied as a sinner to love God nor will he ever reject such love from you. Have the courage to smile at your tormentors so as to let them realize that you have something which they don’t – prudent and forgiving the way God would. If they had such, for sure, they won’t talk about you.

No matter how far you’ve been shunned, God will never let go of your hand.

“You are my Good Shepherd, oh Lord…”

Learn to lead with love. A good leader knows and feels the needs of his constituents much more than his own wants.

Humbly ask the Lord to bless you with the opportunity to be of guidance to the many who have lost their ways. Gently beseech him to grant you the strength to become a pillar to those who are weak and found life burdensome. In the softness of your heart allow God to pass through your lips that you may utter the tender words in consoling the many captives of weariness and anxieties. Permit him to move your hands to share his kindness to alleviate hunger and insufficiency. Though may not externally be seen, let the aura of the Good Shepherd’s love be felt by anyone who comes your way. You could never impersonate God but you can always be another him who cares and leads. Learn to follow the Lord, and be ready to shepherd with love and care your own kind of flock to bear.

Strive not to become a leader who calls, but a shepherd on call.

“Lord to whom shall we go?”

When all of the world turned their backs on you, it might have been your thought that you were left alone. No, you’re not.

Never look down on yourself no matter how distressful things are. Failures are sometimes set to happen not to discourage you but to make you stronger the next time it strikes. You have never been so small as God has always seen you big before His very eyes. He has always kept you in his company, otherwise, to whom shall you go? Though how so little you feel you may be, put on the mantle of love God has always been offering you and share it among those who needed it the most, and even to those who have left you. Though unconsciously, you will be surprised to see how wide you have grown to stand as a shade for them. Your life has always been God’s greatest gift to you that you become branches for others to grow their nests that more lives will flow. Always be glad to share this gift. It’s the best thing you can ever give.

Compassion is more than just being preached, but shared for others to be reached.

“Lead me in your path, oh Lord…”

God’s nourishment would bring about a new life, a new journey, and a new beginning.

You may have bruised your life in the past with pains and heartaches. Remember, they do heal. You don’t have to stay in the stigma of fear that had been caused by these unpleasant memories. In the event that you’ll allow God to nourish your being, you’ll sprout a new stem that reaches out with strength for new leaves to grow. Allow him to be your supplement to heal the broken ligaments of relationship. Let go of the traumatic past and face the present with vibrance and with a strong determination to live a new kind of life in its fullness. Storms pass and so, too, with your past. There’s more to life than stay being stagnant in your hurts. Ignite a happy atmosphere and believe that life can go on amidst trials and tribulations. Believe that you can make it, only if you have the will to do it.

In your new journey, God will always be in your company.

“NOURISH ME, OH GOD…”

When you immersed yourself in the kind of nourishment only God can give, a new life’s perpective unfolds.
 
Life defines its meaning by the way you live it and not just all about the abode of your domicile and tasty intakes. It is well reflected by how you reach out to other’s life than just feel the glamour of what you wear or what you eat. It’s all about how you gratefully appreciate your blessings than sadly grieving for what is lacking. Your life’s shortcomings are never meant to be ostracized but to add meaning to your outlook in life. It’s how you value them that brings you the strength to learn from your mistakes; it’s how you reject them that you become weak in handling difficulties. No amount of unsignificant persons and challenges may ever dampen your spirit when you are fully absorbed in gratefulness for all the blessings God has bestowed on you as his gifts.
 
Life is but God’s beautiful gift, only if you learn to appreciate it.

“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE…”

Meals are great times to commune. Leaning at the edge of a board, everyone partakes the same food. This is communion.

Determined in differences of one’s earnings, food varies in quality. Those blessed to have more enjoy the sumptuous intakes, while the lesser ones contend with the meager. This is unlikely in the way God would feed us. Unmindful of whatever our status, each one partakes equal sustenance and the same nourishment. Our bodies may have all the options to choose but our souls yearn only for the unanimous one – the body of God. We can be diversified in our wants but in partaking the essential necessity of our souls, we are unified. In the celebration of the Holy Eucharist that we participated, the meal had let us become one enormous family and one unified community in one loving fellowship. This was what made us gather. This was what made us one. This was how God united us in his meal. If there is one significant thing this epidemic crisis has brought us is this arduous longing to touch him, to receive him, and to let him become fully alive again in our hearts.

As we truly miss him, the absence makes our heart grow fonder.

“BREAD… BLESSED… BROKEN…”

You are blessed to be broken. Coming into shattered pieces, a new dawn in your life will come to rise.

The breaking causes pain but it is only through this affliction that something better comes out. Just as the shell of an egg breaks its form to produce a new life, the skin and flesh of God were torn and broken by the scourgings in order to bring about your salvation. In a like situation, the restriction that had been caused by this epidemic has led you to the breaking of your wants which led you to strengthen your fellowship with your loved ones. Your world of individualism has transformed into a communion of sharing. Never be afraid of further breakages to surface. Break the layers of your pride and an innermost humility will thrive. Break your insensitivity that you will be fully aware of how others would crave for your care. Break the core of your sinfulness and you will feel God’s loving embrace.

In the event of the shatter, scars are inevitable… and scarred people are always beautiful.

“Be not afraid…”

In the midst of confusion and weariness in life, strive to be a channel of courage and not of fear.

When your mind becomes subservient to your emotions, fear sips in and it becomes difficult for you to comprehend stability and calmness. Thus, when the storms of your life come in, you drown yourself easily in frustration. Never satisfy your feelings by going with the pains, and at times, of hurting yourself to the extent. This is depression. The antidote is obvious: mind control. This is the power of positive thinking. God has given you the gift of the will. He puts your mind above your heart so you can use this gift to control any ill-feeling and to alleviate your mood to eventually appreciate the value of life. Allow yourself then to become the strength to the many who are weak. A joyful atmosphere brings about good vibration that creates an ambience of courage and serenity.

No amount of fear can ever overcome your trust in following God’s will.

“Let me share your blessing, oh Lord…”

Not all who ate the bread and the fish multiplied by Jesus were righteous people. Yet, they all had their sumptuous share.
Though how credible it might seem, God sustains everyone adequately and he sees the necessity of the need, and not just the diversity of the recipients. He used the smallness of what a simple boy can share for the welfare and satisfaction of the many. It was more of the act of sharing and not of the quality of what was shared, for there is no measure for what the poor can share nor what the rich can receive. Obviously, God sees how you treat people around you. Certainly, he would be glad if you can share much of his love when you can give more priority to among those who could not afford to deserve such blessings; to among those who could not return back the favors received; to among those who are in their utmost need to eat from your excessed wants; and to among those who desperately aspire for your kindness and generosity. This will be your own version of what a miracle is.
God lives in the humbled abode of the poor, longing to be a part of that simple bread you will afford.

“YOU ALONE IS MY STRENGTH, OH GOD…”

In today’s uncertainties, everywhere you turn there’s a new atmosphere of a stronger reliance in God.

Amidst the fears that brought about instability there’s a new sound of rejoicing, not of triumph over the catastrophe but of victory of winning God’s esteem back in many of each one’s life. Something significant is happening among us – the fear has caused strength to the multitude to trust in God. He is doing a new thing in ways we have not known before. He is transforming our weariness into a new vigor of confidence; our anxieties into a hope of reliability; and our desperation into an inspiration to survive. We may find it to be alluring but nothing is too difficult with God. We may have empty churches but God fills our hearts with an abundance of assurance that He will suffer with us and that he will never leave us. He desires to be where we are for he wants to let us feel his saving grace and glory, not for his benefit but for our own sake. He will cause peace and calmness to spring forth all over the earth.

Our fear becomes the atmosphere to welcome his mighty presence, as we let him come alive with us in the truest sense.